Cascade cleaner for fibrous material



Oct. 31, 1961 wU CASCADE CLEANER FOR FIBROUS MATERIAL Filed Sept. 14, 1959 United States Patent 3,006,034 CASCADE CLEANER FOR FIBROUS MATERIAL Arthur Wiirmli, Winterthur, Switzerland, assignor to Actiengesellschaft Joh. Jacob Rieter & Cie, Winterthur,

Switzerland, a corporation of Switzerland Filed Sept. 14, 1959, Ser. No. 839,679 Claims priority, application Switzerland Sept. 19, 1958 4 Claims. (Cl. 19-93) The present invention relates to a cascade cleaner for fibrous material, as cotton, and the like.

Conventional cleaner plants include a preliminary opener for opening and cleaning the fibrous material which still contains major clumps as it comes from a hopper feeder.

Removal of impurities from the fibers is usually effected by throwing the impurities which have been loosened by a beater, by centrifugal force through a grate and blowing the cleaned and considerably lighter fibers in opposite direction by an air current entering through the grate. This system of removing undesired matter is not perfect because relatively light impurities which are in the form of dust are carried along by the air current and are not separated.

It is an object of the invention to provide a cleaner for fibrous material which cleans more thoroughly than the conventional devices and which removes undesirable dust which is carried along with the processed fibers by an air current. In the apparatus according to the invention a plurality of scutchers is arranged in series relation, the first one being supplied with material to be cleaned from an endless revolving perforated conveyor which may be in the form of a cylindrical cage on whose inside is a lower pressure than on the outside so that the fibrous material arriving through a feed duct settles on the outside of the conveyor. The material deposited on the conveyor is removed therefrom by a conventional leather flapped roller and conducted through feed rollers to the compartment in which the first scutcher is located. Air drawn by the scutcher through a conventional grate below the scutcher and carrying along undesired particles is conducted, according to the invention, through a duct connecting the scutcher compartment with the part of a suction chamber in which the perforated conveyor is located which part is adjacent to the portion of the conveyor downstream of the roller for removing the fibrous material from the conveyor, and is drawn together with the duct particles suspended in the air through the perforations to the inside of the conveyor or cage. The compartment of the scutcher receiving partly cleaned material from the first scutcher may be similarly connected with the suction chamber in which the conveyor or cage is located. Control means are provided for controlling the amount of dust-laden air Which flows to the suction chamber.

The scutchers are preferably arranged in a common casing which is divided into inidvidual chambers placed individually underneath the scutchers and individually communicating with the compartments in which the scutchers are located, through a grate. Adjustable air inlets may be connected to a side wall of the casing for adjusting the amount of air admitted to the individual chambers, grates, and scutcher compartments.

The novel features which are considered characteristic of the invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, and additional objects and advantages thereof will best be understood from the following description of an embodiment thereof when read in connection with the accompanying drawing the one figure of which is a diagrammatic cross sectional illustration of a cascade cleaner according to the invention.

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Referring more particularly to the drawing, numeral 1 designates a casing including a suction chamber 2 for receiving the fibrous material to be cleaned through a duct 4. A perforated sheet iron cage 3 is rotatably mounted inside the chamber 2, on the outside surface of which cage the material arriving through the duct 4 is deposited. The interior of the cage is connected to an exhaust fan 3 for maintaining a lower pressure inside of the cage than outside thereof. A cover 5 is placed inside the cage 3 for covering the perforations of the cage and rendering the vacuum within the cage ineffective at the outside of the cage adjacent to the cover 5. The fibrous material adhering to theoutside of the cage 3 is pressed against the cage by a compression roller 7 and thereupon removed by a stripper roller 6 from the surface of the cage 3. The roller 6 is preferably provided with leather flaps 7 which contact the surface of the cage 3, and the compression roller 7 is preferably provided with a soft yieldable covering 8. The cover 5 is located in the sector between the rollers 6 and 7. The fibrous material removed from the cage 3 by the leather flapped roller 6 drops onto a guide plate 9 for directing the material to a pair of feed rollers 10 which supply the material to a scutcher 11 located in a compartment 11 formed in the casing 1. A grate 12 is located in the conventional manner below the scutcher 11. The light material, such as fibers, which does not leave through the grate 12 reaches a downwardly extending guide plate 13 for conducting the material to a second pair of feed rollers 14. A separating chamber 15 receives the tufts thrown by the scutcher 11 out of the compartment 11' and includes a diverting plate 16 above the guide plate 13 for returning the tufts which are thrown upwardly by the scutcher 11 to the guide plate 13. It is unavoidable that the scutcher draws air through the grate 12 which air contains dust and individual fibers which are thrown into the chamber 15. The latter has an outlet 17 controlled by a slide 16 and communicating through a duct 25 with the portion of the chamber 2 which is adjacent to the cage 3 downstream of the roller 6 so that useful fibrous material carried along by the air flowing through the duct 25 is deposited on the cage 3 whereas useless dust is withdrawn through the perforations of the cage 3 to the inside of the cage and removed through the suction fan 3'.

The aforementioned feed rollers 14 supply fibrous material from the plate 13 to a second scutcher 18 which rotates in a compartment communicating with a space 15' which has an outlet 19 controlled by a slide 19' and connecting the space 15, into which the scutcher 18 discharges fibrous material, to the duct 25. The space 15' has a second outlet in which feed rollers 26 are located for feeding fibrous material to a third scutcher 20'. This last scutcher delivers useful fibrous material, all objectionable matter having been removed through the grates below the scutchers and through the outlets 17 and 19, so that no special dust-removing provisions need be made in connection with the scutcher 20. The cleaned material leaves the cascade cleaner through an outlet duct 21.

In order to control the amount of air drawn in through the grates below the scutchers, the spaces in the casing 1 below the grates are separated by walls 24 to form. individual chambers, air inlet openings 23 whose size can be adjusted by slides 23 being provided in the lateral walls 22 of the chambers which walls are part of the casing 1.

I claim:

1. Cascade cleaner for fibrous material, comprising a casing, a suction chamber formed in said casing for receiving the material to be cleaned, an endless perforated revolving conveyor means placed in said suction chamber and having an outside surface for supporting the fibrous material, means for maintaining a lower pressure on the inside of said conveyor means than on the outside thereof,

means for removingtliefibrous material from the outside surfaceof said conveyor means; a plurality'of scutchers, a compartment formed in said casing for each of said Scutchers for receiving the, fibers thrown out by, said scutchers, the compartment of a' firstone' of'saidscutchers communicating with said suction chamber for receiving fibrous material to be cleaned" therefrom; the compartment of said firstscutcher"communicating with the compartnient of the second'scutcher and so on for allowing consecutive movementof thematerialto be cleaned by said scutchers through said compartments; and duct means conn'ectingat least one of'said' compartments withthe portion ofsaid suction chamber which portion is adjacent to'the run of said'conveyor means downstream of said means for removing tth'e fibrous material from saidconveyor;

2'. Cascade cleaner as defined in claim 1 including means connected. to' said duct means for individually changing the flow areas between said duct means and said compartments.

3. Cascade cleaner as defined in claim 1 including means individually connectedwith said compartments for admitting air to the individual compartments, said air admission means including means for controlling the flow of air to said individual compartments.

4. Cascade cleaner according to claim'3 wherein said air admission means are inthe form of chambers indi- 1,815,593 Schofield July 21, 1931 

